Sunset Over Rosa City
by Trobson666
Summary: A war torn, gang ridden city descends into chaos as their newly elected president is assassinated! Three members of LEO, Maria, Red and Wolf try to save both themselves and their city from the clutches of a terrifying organisation... Please R&R!


**Chapter 1 – Fort Blackwing:**

The only sound was her breathing and the sweet, distant twittering of birds. She lay in the long grass, eyes darting too and fro, desperately searching for a foe that was hiding itself very well in the foliage. She adjusted her position and winced as her arm brushed a plant, causing it to rustle gently. Silence. She gripped a long rifle, stock pulled tightly into her shoulder, and nozzle dipping slightly as she scanned the horizon for signs of life. How long had she been crouching there? Ten minutes, twenty minutes? She'd been crawling through the undergrowth as part of a team, but they were many yards away in there own set positions. She wished to look up and be reassured by the long black barrel of a comrade's gun, but she barely dared to even blink, reluctantly doing so as a drop of sweat trickled into her eye.

It was a hot day in the forest, a very hot day, and the suns thick beams cut through the canopy of trees like golden knives through an immense green blanket. She fidgeted as inconspicuously as possible, trying to relieve the horrid itching caused by the thick, tightly fitting jungle camo that hugged her body harshly. It was a very heavy material, and sodden with sweat weighed her down uncomfortably.

Then gunfire erupted! She turned her head in surprise to see another member of team Alpha crouched behind a large rock, peppering endless rounds of ammunition into a clump of bushes 50 yards ahead. Gritting her teeth, she scrabbled from her hideout in the grass and ducked her way behind a tree stump, hastily checking her gun magazine.

'Bogey at six o'clock', came the harsh whisper of another team mate lying in a sniper position a mere 4 meters to her left, his gun mounted on a steel tripod. She nodded and turned to the location he'd whispered, noticing an enemy soldier jerk his head towards the sound of gunfire and carefully make his way towards it. Raising her gun carefully, she squinted at him down the scope, allowing the crosshairs to align with his head… There was a loud sputter from the end of her gun and the soldier went down.

'Yes!' she congratulated herself quietly, taking cover behind the stump again. Suddenly an almighty hiss issued forth from where she'd taken out the enemy soldier, and a large mechanised body suit marched out into the small clearing between the two battling squads.

Its solitary red eye was situated directly in the middle of a small featureless head, which in turn was nestled in the centre of a large slender body. Two hulking shoulder pieces lay on either side of the head from which sprouted thick, humanoid arms, each of which supporting a large gun. This large monstrosity was set on two squat legs, each with a double knee, one facing forwards, one facing backwards, much like the back legs of a dog or a horse. It swivelled menacing on a pivot-like waist, and slowly stomped forwards towards the three team mates.

'Shit!', her companion cursed, ducking and weaving to a natural barrier of weed ridden rocks some distance away and indicating for her to follow. She did so cautiously, making sure that she was not spotted by the hulking mass of metal which was still moving towards them.

Without warning her team mate stepped on a twig, and the mech jerked swiftly towards the sound. She stopped in her tracks and crouched behind a bush, hoping and praying that the machine didn't investigate further. Her team mate stood stock still, biting his lip nervously as its featureless head faced him. The single red lens in the centre of its head buzzed and whirred as it tried to focus in on him, and slowly, it began to raise the huge chain gun it supported in its left hand.

Knowing she had to do something, from her position in the bush she lifted her rifle simultaneously to the mech lifting its own gun, and squinted once more down the sight, aiming at the red lens in the centre of its face.

'Steady, steady… Come on Maria, you can do it', she assured herself, taking careful aim. 'Wait… wait', and with that the mech looked like it was going to turn away. Maria relaxed slightly, until she heard the unmistakable whir which was the chain gun starting to rotate its barrel mere nanoseconds before it was bound to start firing out bullets. With precious time to spare she took aim once more and let off a short volley of rounds into its head. The mech let go of the chain guns trigger and began to focus on its damaged eye. It staggered blindly like a drunkard, giving the other members of Maria's team the chance it open fire on its carapace with gusto.

The siren sounded and Maria whooped with glee. 'Yeah! Take that Borland you shit head! Ha ha!'

'Congratulations to team Alpha! All now report to HQ for briefing', bellowed the loudspeaker mounted on the outside wall of the testing grounds.

Maria stood up fully now, and brushing herself down began following the rest of team Alpha back to the main compound. At the gate a surly looking man with a large beard took the rifle from her and expertly slipped the cartridge from the gun, and in one swift movement emptied the remaining paintballs into a large green tub.

She turned and watched happily as she saw a short, very red faced man climb out of the mech and stamp his feet angrily. Taking a dirty yellow cloth from his pocket he wiped the paint from his beloved machines face.

'Oi! This way officer', said the soldier stood in the bases main entrance. Maria shrugged gently and made her way back into the main compound, ignoring the pervy stares of the SRA soldiers eyeing her up.

She was a good looking woman was Maria Newman. Her hair was raven black and quite long, reaching just below her shoulder blades, and although she refused to cut it off, health and safety dictated that whilst on duty, she had to wear it in a ponytail at all times. Her body attracted most attention though. Being one of only three female LEO officers, her job demanded that she keep in shape, so she spent nearly 12 hours a week down at the gym, resulting in long, firm legs, a flat, smooth belly, and a pert, heart shaped behind which she was particularly proud of.

She was relatively olive skinned, with small, but vibrant features indicating both Hispanic and oriental relatives; but this meant nothing, because no-one really knew anything about the outside world. Although the world was slowly recovering from the second Dark Age, and communications were tentatively back online, a lot of information from before had been lost, and very few people even knew what the terms 'Hispanic' and 'oriental' meant. As far as her people were concerned, Rosa City _was _the world.

'Can I have you're attention please', came the loud tinny voice issuing from the loud speaker. The soldiers and LEO officers loosely grouped together stopped their conversations and looked towards the shoddy wooden platform that was passing itself off as a stage on the far side of the compound. Everyone shuffled around each other, quickly and efficiently forming an organised column, facing the stage. Maria jumped slightly and quickly moved into position.

A small door opened, and a powerful military figure marched out. It was Commander Fuller, commanding officer of the Social Republic Army.

'I would like to once again welcome the 86 LEO operatives to Fort Blackwing, and I hope the intensive training they will be receiving over the next 4 weeks will give them the invaluable skills they need to control the riff raff of Rosa City', he said warmly to his audience.

LEO stood for Law Enforcement Officers, and along with the SRA, were the only force separating the fragile state of Rosa City from total chaos. LEO was essentially a police force set up by the leading government bodies to deal with anything from burglaries, and vandalism to the hectic gang warfare that had plagued the streets of the city for as long as anyone could remember. The SRA did a similar job, but on a larger scale. It was Rosa City's equivalent of an army, and although it was very well supplied with both weapons and vehicles, it was very understaffed, and as a result, they had worked hand in hand with LEO for the past 11 years; a direct alliance which had proven invaluable. Rosa City was the Garden of Eden compared to some other cities, and the second Dark Age meant that with only loose provisional governments that had no legitimate control, every area had to fend for itself, and without LEO and the SRA, it would have succumbed to a powerful gang of some kind years ago.

It was because of the close alliance between the two organisations that Maria and 85 of her co-workers had been invited to train with the SRA in an intensive 5 week course, and she couldn't help think that the forest fighting she'd been trained for would be completely irrelevant in the urban setting of Rosa City, except for perhaps in the small unkempt parks dotted randomly around it.

Like he had read her mind, Commander Fuller continued: 'Many of you will be wondering why we have been training you in the forests surrounding Fort Blackwing for the last week. The answer may be seen as cryptic in a way, but it is by no means metaphorical. The slums of Rosa city _are _a jungle! They're wild, unpredictable and can house any number beasts in any nook and cranny. You need to learn how to blend into the environment, use it against your enemy, remain unseen until you wish to be seen and have complete control of the situation'.

Maria mused this, her elfin eyes creasing in response. She accepted it as an idea, but still thought it was just a tad farfetched back here in the real world.

'However', Fuller resumed: 'Tomorrow street fighting will begin in the mock up city you may have seen on the way here'. Maria nodded gently. From the discomfort of the nearly entirely steel truck which seemed to have no suspension at all, she remembered seeing a cluster of concrete buildings poking out from the treetops, and she'd interpreted it as a small town of some kind.

'Dismissed', the commander barked, throwing a thick slab of a hand to his forehead in salute. The soldiers and LEO officers alike saluted back at him in unison.

Maria left the sweaty compound for the safety and comfort of her bed in the makeshift barracks to the north of the fort, but was intercepted by a tall grizzled man with shaggy grey hair and the glint of experience in his eyes.

'Maria. I was watching from the battlements. Superb takedown of that mech. That was a brilliant manoeuvre.'

'Thanks Wolf', she replied happily. 'It's been through your guidance over the years that I've got so good!' she laughed, winking roguishly.

Wolf creased slightly and a small smile danced on his lips. 'You look dirty from the battle. Go refresh yourself with a nice hot shower. I'll get Red to stand outside the doors and make sure none of those perverse SRA soldiers come sniffing around you.'

Maria scratched the back of her head uncomfortably. 'Yeah… They're really getting on my nerves. Can't blame 'em really. I bet they don't get women here very often, and I've heard that leave from this place is really hard to get hold of considering how understaffed the SRA is these days.'

Wolf nodded. 'You're right. Some of those poor men haven't seen their wives in months. Still, it's no excuse for them to come sniffing around young, inexperienced maidens like yourself is it now', he laughed, crossing his arms.

Maria opened her mouth in a mock gasp. 'I've had boyfriends! Yeah, there have only ever been 3, and the longest relationship lasted a month, but… being a LEO officer takes up most of my time, besides, I'm too young to settle down. I'm only 21!' She smiled affectionately. 'You and Red are the only guys I need in my life at the moment. Where is he anyway? I might actually get him to stand outside the door', she said, only half joking.

'He's in the vehicle bay getting an oil change; he said he needed to speak to you about something', Wolf suddenly remembered.

'Ok, I'll go and see him before I get a shower', she said, waving a swift goodbye and making her way to the large squat hanger on the south-east corner of the fort.

Wolf was Maria and Reds mentor. A very experienced soldier, spy and hunter, he worked freelance for the SRA during the second Dark Age, often assassinating bandit leaders who threatened the wellbeing of Rosa City. He worked 'old school' as he liked to call it and specialised in knives and short range firearms, his weapon of choice being a modified Heckler and Koch USP automatic pistol.

A lot of people on the SRA base laughed at Wolf and his appearance, because he seldom shaved and bathed when on a mission; being so used to spending months at a time in the forests surrounding the city. It was noticed however among the few women working and Fort Blackwing, that when he did scrub up and cut his hair, he was quite a handsome man, even for a 54 year old covered in scars!

Over the years Maria and Red had become very close to Wolf, viewing him as a father figure and viewing each other as the sibling they never had. They were the only people he opened up to and the three were virtually inseparable, spending the vast majority of their time outside of work together. The common bond between them was that none of them had families. They only had each other.

Maria walked into the hanger through a corrugated iron door and squinted into the darkness in an attempt to find Red. One of the booths in the far corner had a light on inside. She made her way towards it, almost walking into a barrel of kerosene hidden under the shadow of a rather large plane.

'Hey Newman! You looking for Red?' said a thin man in overalls, his frizzy black hair spilling over the top of his goggles.

'Yeah. Is he in the booth?' she asked, and invited herself towards it.

'Yeah, I just refuelled him and replaced the water in his hydraulics systems. Gave him a good polish too! He's looking quite snazzy, ha-ha,' laughed the technician, walking off to attend to other business.

Maria raised her eyebrows and smiled wryly. 'That guy is weird…' she chuckled to herself. She entered the booth and found Red within.

He was sat in a strict upright position and was bolted to a large chair. On one side of him was a canister of water and a tub of oil, and on the other side was a small table covered in tubes of grease, knives, dirty cloths and a pair of gloves. Reds head swivelled towards her as she entered.

'Hi Mary! Can you get me out of this chair? That prick forgot to let me out before he left. I swear that guy is trippin'!' he exclaimed earnestly.

Maria relaxed and immediately creased. 'Ha-ha, you're telling me! I'll tell you. All those fumes and shit? No wonder he's such a nutcase!' she laughed.

She picked up a big dirty wrench and began undoing the bolts that shackled Red to the chair.

'You look a little worse for wear. How did the training go today?' he asked inquisitively, genuinely interested.

'I totalled Borland!' she grinned.

'Really? Nice one! That guy's been asking for it since we came here. I'm glad you finally showed that cocky bastard how it's done,' he said, raising his now freed left arm and flexing it experimentally. 'Ahhh, lubed to perfection!'

Maria smiled at the quirky attitude that she'd grown to love over the last 3 years. 'How are you holding up in that suit?' she asked, referring to the mech he was permanently bound into.

'Erm, I dunno. It's hard to explain. I don't think I'll ever get used to being so big,' he laughed, finally standing up and brushing himself down. 'According to Dr. Carlson, my new body should be ready soon. I just hope the coverage on this breakthrough doesn't go through the roof. I couldn't handle that much publicity'.

Red was 27 years old, but had spent the last 18 months indefinitely housed in a mech after a terrible shootout that left him for dead. On that fateful night he was dispatched to bring in a group of alleged mercenaries for questioning on a recent string of murders, but him and 2 other LEO officers were ambushed and fired upon from all sides. Both of his companions were killed. One took 6 handgun rounds to the lower abdomen, 12 assault rifle rounds to the torso and arm, and a shotgun wound to the left leg, whilst the other took a shotgun shell to the head. Red was not shot in any vital organs thankfully, but almost bled to death and lost both legs and an arm. As a result he was taken to an infirmary, and wasn't expected to live long, but Dr. Frederick Carlson made him an offer that would save both his life, and his career. Short afterwards he was enrolled in the 'Renaissance Programme' and spent a total of 57 hours in surgery being built into a special life-support machine; and then into the smallest military mech they could find. The mech had been carefully modified to house Red for long periods of time, and there had been no hitches so far. The longest he'd been at one with the mech was 7 weeks, but he had to be removed for emergency surgery on an infected leg stump. He was doing well though, and was nearly fully recovered from his ordeal.

He scratched his head. Not because there was an itch on the steel dome, just simply out of habit. He tried to maintain as much of his humanity as possible. Being linked to the inside of a machine, it was hard for him at times to not _think _like a machine. He had already lapsed into a robotic state twice before, a 'fascinating finding' Dr. Carlson called it. Maria was worried for Red, but the doctor assured her when she expressed her concern after both incidents that it was nothing to worry about. She wasn't convinced.

Red moved towards the door, swinging his arms gently to work the oil and grease deep into his joints.

'Wolf said you had something you wanted to tell me', Maria remembered.

He flexed his huge metal arms and looked at her. His piercing blue eyes seemed to bore into her soul, and she shuddered. His eyes were the only visible part of his human body, and every time he looked at her she was reminded of the Red she knew before his run in with the mercenaries.

'Yeah… I've been thinking of quitting LEO and joining the SRA,' he muttered quietly, almost like he was ashamed of himself.

Maria collapsed inside, but stood firm. 'Oh… Why?' came the simple but powerful question.

'I, uhh. There isn't much work for mech's in LEO. I think I'd do better here, with the heavy artillery, y'now?'

Maria's face contorted with despair. 'You're leaving us? You're leaving me? After all we've been through… I thought we were a family.'

'This is the dilemma', he continued. 'I feel that I could save more lives and bag more criminals if I was let into the more dangerous situations. The type that mere LEO officers aren't capable of handling.' His voice dripped contempt.

Maria laughed sadly. 'You say you want to join the SRA when you clearly hate them! From what you've said, I gather that you want to see a lot of action, yeah?' Her voice suddenly raised into a yell. 'Remember what happened last time you begged the boss for a lot of action, eh? You fucked it up and ended up with 3 of your limbs blown to shit!'

Red jumped aback, startled and angry. 'How dare you, you little bitch!' he bellowed, his booming voice reverberating around the inside of his helmet. 'I lost 2 of my best friends that day, and the chance to ever lead a normal life!'

He glared at her menacingly before turning round and walking out the door.

'Red, I'm sorry! I didn't mean that. I just can't bear the thought of losing you!' she shouted after him, but it was no use. The damage had been done. She collapsed onto the large steel chair she'd freed him from and began to sob uncontrollably.

She went back to the barracks and took the shower, only without Red stood in front of the door.


End file.
